Lesson plan · Belonging and kindness
We shelter each other
The class builds a shared handprint tree and talks about the people who look after us.
- 45 minutes
- Ages 5–7, Ages 7–9
- 2 activities
Big question: Who looks after us, and who do we look after?
The session
- 5 min
Warm up: what is shelter?
Ask where you would go if it started to rain. Read the saying and its meaning, and play its audio.
- 30 min
Make the tree
Everyone makes a handprint leaf showing one way they help or are helped, and adds it to the tree.
Activity: Handprint shelter tree (planning sheet)
- 10 min
Talk: the whole tree
Stand back and look at the tree together. How many hands did it take? What would one leaf on its own look like?
To take home
Kindness week: For one week the class keeps a tracker of small kind acts, given and received.
The saying
Each saying page has its meaning, source and audio to play to the group.
By the end
- Explain what shelter means, for a tree and for people
- Name someone who helps them and someone they help
- Contribute to a shared class display
Before you start
- A brown paper trunk on the wall
- Coloured paper, pencils and child-safe scissors
- Print: Handprint shelter tree (planning sheet)
- Print: Kindness week (weekly tracker)
Preview edition. Not yet tried with a class. Timings are estimates; adjust to your group.